FIG. 1 shows a prior art food service counter 10 for food storage trays 12 that can keep foods hot or cold. The foods kept in such trays 12 include meats and condiments used to make sandwiches or other food products. FIG. 1 also shows a food condiment dispenser 20 in the trays 12 that is intended to control the temperature of foods kept in the tray.
FIG. 2 is a cross section of a prior art food storage tray 12. In the case of refrigerated trays 12, refrigeration lines 14 absorb heat from the side walls and/or bottom of the tray 12 in order to keep the air inside the tray 12 cold. A vessel 20 embodied as a condiment dispenser is shown in FIG. 2 to be standing upright inside the tray 12. The vessel 20 has a lower portion 24 below the open top 16 of the tray and an upper portion 22 above the open top 16.
It is well known that temperature gradients exist within food-serving trays 12. Room air currents mix with air in the tray 12, which tend to warm the top of a refrigerated tray and cool the top of a heated tray. The air temperature inside and near the top 16 of the tray 12 will almost always be different than the air temperature inside and at the bottom of the tray 12. Food storage trays 12 are therefore less than ideal for storing perishable foods for long periods of time, especially when ambient room air temperatures are high and/or when room air currents are relatively brisk. Upper portions 22 of tall vessels 20 are not refrigerated at all.
Some restaurants, sandwich shops and food services prepare foods that include made-to-order sandwiches, ice cream and pizza. Many such establishments add condiments to their products, examples of which can include but are not limited to, whipped cream, salad dressing, cheeses and mayonnaise. They usually add such condiments using well-known, hand-held dispenser squeeze bottles.
Many condiments need to be kept refrigerated in order to preserve their freshness. Dispensers from which such condiments are dispensed therefore also need to be refrigerated.
While restaurants and food service providers that add perishable condiments to food products know that some condiments need to be kept refrigerated, capital equipment costs, operating expenses and food product preparation time constraints can force many restaurants and food service providers to forego properly refrigerating condiment dispensers 20. Some restaurants and food services have taken to storing hand-held condiment dispensers in a refrigerated tray 12 when the condiment dispensers 20 are not being used in order to keep the dispensers somewhat chilled but nevertheless accessible.
Refrigerated food storage trays 12 used in prior art food service counters 10 are too shallow to properly refrigerate tall, hand-held condiment dispensers 20. Even if the trays 12 were as deep as a condiment dispenser is tall, the temperature gradient inside the tray is nevertheless inadequate to properly chill the top, upper-most part 22 of a tall condiment dispenser 20 because of the temperature gradient that exists in the trays 12. Lowering the nominal tray temperature so that the top portion 22 is kept at or below a proper condiment storage temperature might mean that the bottom portion of a tray goes below 32° F., which would freeze contents at the bottom portion 24 of a dispenser 20. An apparatus and method for assisting the refrigeration of elongated, hand-held dispensers in a temperature-controlled food storage tray 12 would be an improvement over the prior art.